911 is knocked out all over the mid Michigan region Tuesday

Thanks to a two- vehicle accident in Montcalm County, Central Dispatch 911 emergency phone lines went down all over the area, yet there were no serious problems that resulted from the outage.

The outage included the counties of Alpena, Gratiot, Isabella, Alcona, Montcalm, Otsego and Shiawassee, said a Frontier Communications spokesman and, according to reports, perhaps parts of other counties.

Frontier owns the system.

Lines were out of commission from about 1:30 a.m. until around 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to Eric Barie, vice president of marketing for Frontier.

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Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski and Gratiot County Sheriff Doug Wright, along with officials from Montcalm County reported no major issues.

As traffic accidents go, the one that occurred on M-46 near Vestaburg Road just before midnight wasn’t a big one.

One vehicle pulled out in front of the other and no one was seriously injured, said Lt. Brian Weber of the Montcalm County Sheriff’s office.

But something happened to take down the pole that held the fiber optic cable that served all the 911 lines in the area.

Most counties had another line that didn’t belong to Frontier. Gratiot’s line was 875-5213. In Isabella County that number was 773-1000, said Marc Griffis, emergency management coordinator. Those numbers remain the number to call in both counties in case the 911 system should fail again.

But few knew those numbers like they know 911. E-mails, Facebook postings and in Isabella County, CodeRed messages were sent, and TV and radio stations were contacted providing those numbers.

Griffis said Isabella was preparing to man the fire departments to take calls or even drop ins when the service was restored.

Griffis is urging all residents and businesses in Isabella County to register for the CodeRED service. You may register by going to the Isabella County website at www.isabellacounty.org.

Should something happen that takes out Montcalm’s Central Dispatch, the whole system defaults to Gratiot, which would handle the calls. Most call centers have something similar.

But on Tuesday morning, they were all out. Even so, the central dispatch centers were in contact with one another via cell phone, said Tim Scott, Montcalm County’s 911 director.

Scott’s cell phone was put to use and advertised as the number to call for an emergency. There was another line open in the Montcalm sheriff’s office, but no one was in there at that time of night.

For his part, Barie called the incident good news. Frontier was able to determine where its system is the most vulnerable.

Barie was asked if, since so much was riding on one pole, shouldn’t that pole be more protected?

“We’re working to put in redundancy,” he said. “The pole struck a critical part in the network.”

The system was originally to have another “path,” but for some complications, didn’t, Barie said. The company has identified the problem and will have the second “path” installed by the end of the day Thursday, he said, stressing that the same thing won’t happen again.

“Public safety is our number one concern,” he said.

The minute it was learned that the lines were cut, crews were sent out, working the whole night in inclement weather to restore service, he said.

However, even with Frontier working on a fix, local counties are also concerned and will likely discuss options for a Plan B.

Alma City Manager Phil Moore, who serves on Gratiot’s 911 board, said the incident highlighted the system’s weakness.

“It’s a serious problem,” he said.

He expects it will be the topic at the next board meeting.

For his part, Sheriff Wright, who also serves on the 911 board, said he will suggest, as one option, having a few designated cell phones to be used in an emergency if the 911 system is down.

Like everyone else, Wright is aware that cell phones as well as land lines can also be put of commission. It’s but one option for a problem that has no ideal and easy solution.

About the Author

Linda Gittleman’s alma mater is Western Michigan University where she majored in speech and English and her hometown is Alma. She’s worked at the Morning Sun's Alma office for more than 20 years. Reach the author at lgittleman@michigannewspapers.com
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